on our g. twenty question the sudden resignation of pope benedict the sixteenth shock waves reverberate throughout the catholic world. french and mali and forces reclaim the city of we bring you a firsthand account from the city after a surprise attack by militants on the spoils french claims of a victorious campaign. and eighteen coal miners died in an underground me thane blast in russia's conny republic the rescue is still looking for one possible survivor. world news as it happens twenty four hours a day you're watching r.t. on character. the vatican has announced that pope benedict the sixteenth will step

down on february twenty eighth citing his old age the eighty five year old will become the first head of the catholic church to resign from the post in nearly six centuries but let's get more on this now from artist tom barton who joins us live now in the studio taunted us more about this extraordinary unexpected announcement it really is extraordinary kerry it's come as a real shock to all of the journalists and people who regularly watch the activities of the pope in rome they none of those of them predicted it as well this sudden announcement a lot of speculation as to whether this decision was in the making in the planning for some time now those details slowly coming out one polish newspaper has said that they dug out a quote supposedly from benedict sixteenth back in one thousand nine hundred four when he said that there's no such thing as a pope in retirement. now it seems obviously he's gone through some kind of change

of mind perhaps the difficulties of the job it must be noted he was one of the oldest pope selected when john paul the second died in two thousand and five he's gone through a very difficult time misspoke a lot of scandal surrounding the church and the announcement that came out today as he said it i no longer have the mental and the physical strength to continue the very very strenuous tootsies that it can be for an old man. to represent the church in all its dealings has officials in the vatican has said they are now trying to find a new pope and to do that as quickly as possible they hope that will happen before easter but really a very very surprising announcement today from pope it is tom thank you for that update and to be talking to our correspondent peter all of in germany about this extraordinary resignation. for now let's talk to director of the national secular

society keith portis word thanks for joining us here on r.t. today now well the reputation of the catholic church has been marred as not by various scandals recently but where there are any positives from pope benedict sixteenth tenure do you think. well sadly not because there were two major issues as really been mentioned child abuse and i think the dark triangle side has been an absolute catastrophe for the church it's actually lost. its authority in many parts of the world when you say that you're going to. oppose politicians trying to bring in say same sex marriage laws and you invest or your authority on that and then you loses if as effectively happened in those important catholic countries like spain portugal brazil. and about to happen

indeed in england and scotland in france then you actually lose the your authority it's more than just losing the fight so that's been a catastrophe for the church and church attendance has declined it an amazing rate and i think the child abuse scandal has been something that pope benedict has never recovered from he's been involved in it personally through the c.d.f. prefecture for twenty five years and in fact he's brought more into the vatican and tried to cover it up more and more and more so i think his his papacy will be seen as a major setback and a very bad papacy for the church usec a task to feed the vatican though says a new catholic church leader will be elected by the end of march who do you think is most likely successor and it's early but who do you think. now i really don't

know enough about the internal side of the vatican but washoe what worries me terribly is that the it's quite clear that. he has been packing the college of cardinals with extremely conservative people so. as indeed his predecessor did and so that the church will continue its relentless lurch to the right. which is sickening a loss of catholics themselves they're abandoning the church at an amazing rate and in britain we found the less than half of the. more than half of the m.p.'s who were actually voting in favor of same sex marriage so it's catholics themselves that just cannot take this hard doctrine on issues like homosexuality abortion contraception that their own church is an embarrassment to them could it

now then be time to look outside of europe in the search for a new pope then for a fresh start as it were i think it matters less where the candidate comes from. than what their basic position is going to be on these. mainly sexual issues and on child abuse because the church is really never faced up to that it's still keeping everything secret and trying to pay the minimum in compensation and the united nations even has said that that just isn't acceptable any longer. for a national second society portis where thanks for those thoughts today here in our team. pleasure. of course we'll have more on that from our correspondent artie's arpita oliver in a few minutes time other news now french and malian troops have regained control of after is the most militant slaughter surprise attack what is in northern mali is

most populous city authorities say three civilians were killed during sunday's fighting but it comes after recent claims by france that the military campaign is almost complete and as local correspondent gonzalo want to reports the joint forces are struggling to find a secure the region still occupied by insurgents. the situation in mali is obviously going to have gruesome and the road more than enough indications of last friday the country was shaken by the very first terrorist attack in its history according to the witness report but it was carried out by a fifteen year old suicide bomber in that arab descent the bomber was the only one killed after the detonation a few hours later responsibility for the attack that was claimed by the malaysian wod jihadists one thing to remember here is that this is a vast desert territory and therefore it is very difficult to control this attack is just another example confirming that despite the news reports of the french army

having taken over gal timbuktu into doubt there is still a long way to go before jihadists are ousted from the country at least in severe artie's crew was given access to the civil defense camps and were volunteers and civilians are preparing to fight against the jihadists the f.l. and they are going down to core a local government militia movements that account for a total of two thousand eight hundred operatives but do not support the strategy chosen by the french in mali and joined forces in fighting the terrorists completely share the same goals but what they did was a really bad service to us there was no really about the army itself al-qaeda had been operating on mali and territory for a number of years now they have all of this and they keep getting more by kidnapping white people for ransom insurance pays them to have their citizens returned and then the terrorists have cash to buy weapons and if you talk about al qaeda there's no way the army can fight it because she it's terrorism and that action going to find out is that those paramilitary who know the terrain well say

fighting a war they cannot take part in that is meaningless one thing all these paramilitary groups have been at home and that is their patriotism and zeal to protect their country get in there and drive away the narco terrorists but this is a losing fight with enough to have given the financial resources and ammunition start they have just put out. i'm ready to go it's all lengths i'm raised to give my life right now to save my family up there in the north because we're all here has family so i believe france will stop these attacks for a while or and the french troops leave they will start all over again because the criminals are still out there hiding them on the civilians not all of them have been caught really need to be given the mandate to complete this mission our own we're ready for it only we can do it because we grew up in the north we know the terrain and the people so we're the only ones who can stop them and find them in the villages and the desert where we know every corner and every part of land. overall well that you had this forces are taking over their land kidnapping people

and using suicide bombers to fight for the cause of the civilian population remains the country's most vulnerable at root. of the ongoing modern conflict was among the topics arties going to chicken discussed with russia's ambassador to the un telling churkin what interview well there are eighteen forty five g.m.t. and he's also available for you anytime you like on our website r.t. dot com here's a preview. question of the spring was the dramatic events in libya. we're in the course of the crisis of course lots of weapons were brought into libya and there was a lot of there were lots of weapons of as it is but still many more weapons were brought into libya during the recent hearings which then secretary of state clinton had in the house of representatives one of the congressman said that they had information that cut out with a wink and nod as he put it from the united states brought in twenty thousand tons

of weapons into libya and you know twenty thousand tons you can arm is small terrorist army and so on of course this is exactly what has happened in mali definitely we see a spillover from the libyan crisis to to a neighboring country and most likely if the spillover has affected other places as well for instance it may well be there are many indications to that effect that the terrorist attack in the in the in the jury had something to do i mean close to the libyan border also had some sort of libyan connection in terms of people maybe weapons terrorists emanating from libya participating in that attack. more tension in congress as egypt's opposition vows to bring supporters to the streets for mass rallies looking to see is since the fall of former president hosni

mubarak stories after a short break. you know sometimes you see a story and it seems so you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else you hear or see some other part of it and realize everything you thought you don't know i'm charge of the big picture.

download the official publication. choose your language stream quality and enjoy your favorite. if you're away from your television just. not with your mobile device you can watch on t.v. anytime anywhere. eighteen people have been killed by me fane explosion in a mine in russia's northern comique republic that's according to the emergency officials who also say one person is still missing. and eight hundred metres below the surface more than two hundred fifty miners were underground. has more. we know that at least two hundred forty two people have been evacuated from the mind immediately after the explosion that is see that created at one point there

were several people who were missing looks like most of them have been recovered unfortunately i didn't that we also know that immediately already a program has been set up in order to help financially release those who have lost their relatives in the blast and that compensation should be in the amount of about two million rubles and that is roughly sixty six thousand dollars. for them to because of the the gas explosion in the mine you have to mention here that there has been no fire immediately following the blast and that could be said to be a fortunate thing because otherwise of course we'd be looking at a death toll would be significantly higher there has been a criminal case launched also into the possible breach of security measures at the mine. this is looking like the biggest in terms of death toll. mining accident over the past year russia.

but a top story now that of the coming resignation of sixteen to step down at the end of the month when all of the joins us live now from peter you're in. the birthplace of the current reaction been like there. ok i think we've got a few technical difficulties there will come back to peter as soon as we can of course. move on to other stories now that suicide rates are soaring in the u.k. with money worries pushing many over the edge cuts to mental health services and aggressive debt collecting by expert says major factors aggravating the situation. one mother who lost her child to debt dispair. for the last year and a half thorn has been coming to terms with the tragic death of a son aged just twenty three toby took his own life riding his spinal words on the

back of a bank statement after racking up a three thousand pound overdraft and a five thousand pounds student debt it was just the shock this wasn't from one but had a history of depression or mental illness or even had come across as being down or depressed. in the last few weeks months of his life if anything he came across as someone you know didn't have a care in the world following his death and became a trustee for the charity piracy which aims to prevent suicide among young people from a home in cornwall she even runs her own blog giving advice but it's a battle her charity and similar ones around the u.k. are struggling to win suicide is on the increase according to latest figures accounting for six thousand deaths between twenty ten and twenty eleven a rise of seven percent so why the increase while an inquest ruled that toby's financial problems were

a contributing factor to his suicide experts now say that in ailing u.k. economy is partly to blame for the recent surge in deaths nationwide areas of high unemployment such as camden here in london are among those worst affected and it's a problem compounded by cutbacks in mental health services the double whammy effect of the recession is that the people are becoming more distressed more anxious and therefore more at risk of wanting to take their own lives at the same time whether sterrett in cuts means that we have fewer psychiatric beds that the crisis care isn't there and if that isn't enough the growth of same day loan companies and intimidating debt collectors are adding to the pressures people are feeling according to researchers at brighton university we have some very very good regulations to protect people. it's problematic let thinks that it debt collection however hears that particularly well it's because these practices are still. in

response the u.k. government has announced plans to crack down on aggressive bailiff's from next year late night visits will not be allowed and restrictions will be put on what property can be ceased they are also spending over a million pounds on research as part of a suicide strategy plan but that is only one very small step in the right direction for someone like can there's no easy answer i mean one thing i've learned more about thirty five than i ever wanted to know but i've done a lot of reading and rethought and i think strangely complex hopefully entirely the trend will go down with what we need to be doing more andrew farmer for r.t. london. while low go back to our teaser piece all of now regarding the resignation of the sixteen you're in. this country really where he was born what's the reaction been like very in germany. well germany has

a large population of catholics particularly in the southern part of the country munich of course where as cardinal writes pope benedict was well that was his his home territory we've seen the chance german chancellor angela merkel appear on television to address the public to play pay tribute to benedict the sixteenth for all that he's done not just as a pontiff but also as a german pontiff saying that he brought together peoples of all faiths. across the spectrum of of their of the lives of religious communities also other senior politicians of being paying their tribute and it's not just here in germany of course across europe we've seen the president of france france warland come out and say it's the manner in which benedict has said i just can't continue anymore showed that he was a great dignity also in over in the united kingdom david cameron praising what the

pontiff it done in order to bring more communication between the protestant church of england. and the sea over rome and the catholic church so the tributes have been pouring in not just from here in germany where. where pope benedict grew up where he was born and where he spent most of his ministry but also from around europe and in fact all around the world but despite all these tributes of course a nice time at the vatican has been marred by a string of scandals hasn't it. well it's certainly not been an easy ride it's not been the longest papacy just under eight years but in that time has certainly been plenty of drama no nice includes one of the one of the reasons that benedict said that he has to step down as he thought his age made him physically and in some cases mentally unable to deal with the everyday life of being the pope in the modern world one of the series of scandals that we've seen involved the so-called

vatileaks similar to wiki leaks a series of documents that were distributed online but which well apparently showed a c.v. a series of shady dealings done by the vatican this type of thing of course not something your average eighty five year old has to deal with but they include some quite serious allegations including the fact that the vatican colluded with civil. italy to try and get pressure taken off the church of rome for paying taxes on properties which it own and there is also a list that was published of well less than savory clients for the vatican bank which included some people alleged to be sicilian mafia bosses and of course one of the major scandals that is will be remembered for benedict's papacy concerns child abuse now in his previous job before he became pope he was essentially regarded as the john paul the seconds of papal bulldog he was the defender of the doctrine of

full faith and not role he is accused of covering up sexual abuse scandals all around the world but also here in germany in fact in recent times there's been further controversy over this as the church here in germany canceled an investigation into child abuses that range back to the 1940's and stop that investigation apparently according to the man who was conducting it because they weren't happy with what would be made public so there's certainly been controversy and it will be something that's picked over for a long time to come after benedict steps down at the end of this month and date i'm sure this will run around artie's arpita out of a thank you for now. we have more stories and the pictures for you on our website don't you don't come is a quick glimpse of what we have lined up for you there today china has overrun the

around us behind me america's position of the world's biggest trading nation six decades more details and figures on our website and. also also today you know for sure what to be doing tomorrow if not the u.s. defense may be able to help they say they can now predict your future steps making just by collecting social network data why not more online. gyptian security forces are on high alert off the country's opposition announced mass rallies to mark two years since the fall of former president hosni mubarak over a dozen parties have declared their intent to march on tahrir square and the presidential palace to step up pressure on currently there mohamed morsi pro-democracy protesters are accusing president seal training the revolution of one thousand nine hundred twenty kidnapping and this could repression several egyptian regions are

currently in a state of emergency after deadly clashes erupted across the country and a verse of the uprising dishy spokesman. says creating a coalition government is the only way to quell the unrest. people are gonna go into the streets they are going on the streets willingly they don't really need any opposition calls for a new protest because the whole country is in a standstill there's nothing moving forward because there is no real administration at pressing the people needs and the people demand the actual anger in the streets so the only solution that i can see and that any sane person can see that the opposition the brotherhood and all the different political factions to be in a quality of government that would be the only solution and the only way out because at that moment this government will take responsibility for any reform that's going to be as want to be happening in the country but the idea of just excluding everybody out of the government post revolution country in

a country that's acting calling for democracy when there is no real parliament in session that can hold the president or the government accountable to the failures of administering the country and then refusing to have a quality of government that's just a call for chaos. more international news in brief for you now turkish media reports that at least seven people have been killed and dozens injured after a car bomb exploded at a crossing on the turkish syrian border expose's were reportedly packed into a car carrying humanitarian aid to those killed are said to be syrian nationals dozens of ambulances were dispatched to the scene where the area has been a focus of violence in the almost two year long battle between syrian rebels and government forces. the government and opposition in bahrain have launched a new round of reconciliation talks the first such meeting into this crisis reform campaign is a calling on the government to deal with police brutality and perceived discrimination

. the opposition has cast doubts on the intentions of the tools just a bluff to calm your arrest activists say there's too much power concentrated in the hands of the sunni monarchy. and in official has resigned following a deadly stampede at a row a station killed thirty six hindu programs reportedly occurred after railway officials announced a last minute change of. millions gathered on the banks of the ganges river to take a dip marking the religious festival held every twelve years. in french authorities are to hold talks with key figures in the meat industry it comes as up to one hundred percent of horsemeat was discovered in products labeled as beef in the u.k. sweden in france the frozen meals were immediately pulled from shop chains and they must cast upon meat suppliers who in turn denied the allegations eleven e.u.

countries are feared to be involved in the scandal. coming up next a recap of the exporting highlights with kate partridge. to speak to language. well programs and documentaries in arabic it's all here on all t.v. reporting from the world talks books the v.i.p.'s interviews intriguing stories tell you. he's been trying. to find out more visit our big dog called. this is is trash to get rid of. but it's also.